Hidden Valley Hibiscus Forum

Saffron today :D

Glowing! Its going to give Electric Orange a run for the money if you ever grow that one, too.

Charlie

Yah Charlie, my Saffron blooms are very very bright!  I cant imagine EO being brighter! 

I remember seeing a CV "Spotted Pony" which was Saffron x Some like it Hot in your newsletter a while back.  It looks like that is another bright orange with a white eye that Saffron produced? 

Spotted Pony is also very bright and with the white eye but has the added feature of yellow spots that it got from Some Like It Hot. These are fairly big spots and not too many of them so it does not look the same as some of those that have lots of smaller yellow spots. Spotted Pony is a little behind in production but is coming either later this year or next spring. Photo of a pair of them blooming last summer is below.

Charlie

Does spotted pony show its spots all year or is it a summer time thing like many other CVs?

Hibiscus planted 50 years ago

A pic of the trunk

The bloom

Who can name Jon's pink bloom? It's common around San Diego County. I saw one once at a home in Venice that had been trained tree style but after 50 plus years was big enough so you could stand under its lowest branches. I didn't even notice it was a hibiscus at first until I saw flowers up above me.

Charlie

Chris, I don't know about Spotted Pony in winter. By then all the plants were cut back for wood and no blooms at all since fall. In an indoor house environment like where you would grow it, and with good sunshine through the window, I would expect it to have spots but we won't know til we try.

Charlie

My guess is it is "lipstick" I remember seeing a bunch of those in So Cal :) 

I would like to see if Spotted Pony shows it spots in the house.  I really like the bloom, but I tend to like bright colors :)

Lipstick would be my guess too Chris.

The owner said that he has never fertilized it and that he only prunes the top off once in a while. He said that it had been planted 56 years ago.

 :o I have this same hibiscus...it is lipstick...mine is about 15 years old...my gardener keeps it trimmed into a tree...no blooms right now but in spring it will be covered in pink blooms....and I never feed it

Lipstick it is! Nice tree you have there!!

Charlie

 :)this city slicker bloom opened today.....

As mentioned, winter does the strangest things to hibiscus flower colors! It's pretty but I would not have guessed that it was City Slicker. Thanks for showing.

Charlie

Great bloom day here!

Dragons breath, very dark maroon color today!  Really starting to love this one :D

Burnished Gold,

Showing alot of reds and oranges today, but perfect form as usual :)

Rosalind was feeling like being a double

Just beautiful, Chris. You are fulfilling a long time dream of mine to see winter hibiscus flowers in snowy places. I can see why hibiscus are the #2 best selling potted flowering plant in Germany.

Charlie

Hi Charlie,

I am glad i could help you out just as you did by providing the plants!  Looks like Saffron was a bit late to open up before I went to work.

Very cool bloom, its a light orange with a splashing of darker orange.  Never seen anything like it :)   

I think that the plant is a bit sick though, it lost a bunch of leaves and the new leaves have cholorosis, so I think I am going to cut it back after a few more blooms and add an iron supplement

Hey Chris, thanks for showing the pretty Saffron flowers. I was amazed when I moved one  deep into the shade of our front porch and the strong bright orange blooms became almost yellow.

The best way to fix the problem you describe is to make a triple strength mixture of Supernova with a normal amount of HVH Special Blend fertilizer and then add a 2 tablespoons of iron chelate to a gallon of the mixture. Pour this mixture into a deep saucer to a depth of about 1 inch and then place the potted Saffron into the saucer so it is sitting in the mixture. Leave it there and refill with the same mixture once it has been used up. Doing this has cured every chlorotic plant I have tried when nothing else would do it. It will take 2 weeks to see a difference but then the improvement comes quickly until it is a healthy lush green again.

Good luck!

Charlie

Hi Charlie,

I will definitely try that.  I took some group pictures today, so enjoy!

A few to show today:)

Its been sunny so bright Saffron!  Interesting how sunlight changes color

Fantastic photos Chris!  Your blooms have such perfect form.

How is your Saffron doing now?

hello chris,

your blooms are perfect as are your photos.

very nice

louis

hi all,

just wanted to show you some blooms from this week. the first one is some of my plants in a bay window, note the raging snow storm in the background. this storm dumped 20 inches of very wet snow on us. was house bound for a couple of days. the bloom is "sleeping beauty"

second and third photo is of one of my favorite plants, "pineapple sundae" it probably the nicest looking bush that i have.

below the plants and out of site is a humidifier to keep the house from drying out in the low humidity of the winter. the plants just love it.

louis

Beautiful scene, Louis.

I'm really glad to hear your comments about Pineapple Sundae since this year I decided to grow more of it. I gave away the original plant of it but when I saw how well it was blooming I asked for a cutting back and have built it up from there.

Charlie

That is a beutifull bloom and having seen it i will now concider buying one.Could you describe to me [or even better] post a picture of the whole bush. David.

Maybe Louis has a photo of the bush and will post it. I only have bloom photos right now but will take some bush shots this summer.

Charlie

Lol, if you were referring to Dragon's Breath, I would describe the bush as upright and having medium vigor. It has huge leaves and blooms a lot on each of the branches.  The only problem I have had with it is when the flowers are very large, the peduncle is quite long and the flowers can flop, but this only happened with one bloom so far.  Mine gets only a two hours of morning sun and seems to like it alot.  It is one of the varieties that tends to do better with some shade.  If you look under hibiscus galleries on the website Dragon's Breath is on there and there is a pic of the bush which is pretty spot on.  I think that if you are comfortable with your ability to take care of hibiscus it is a great CV to have.  Can be a bit picky, but I think with shade and good care its hard to beat!  Another option would be to look at Charlie's CV silver dragon which is similar in color to DB.  I havent grown it (yet) but it may have a bush that is easier to manage.   I really love your Gator Pride pics!

hello david,

i will post a photo of the bush in a day or so. need some good light to take a good photo.

louis

hello david, et al,

Great leaf color on that Pineapple Sundae, Louis. I get a real kick out of seeing all these winter time blooms with snow in the background. You and Chris are really getting good results this year. If Chris did not have the moving stress get to some of his I'm sure he would have even more blooms. Next year, eh?

Charlie

hi charlie,
all of my plants have this rich green. i use liquid iron once a month in the liquid feed.
this bloom is 4 days old and shows no sign of closing. color is remaining constant. what do you attribute this to. on a sunny day, the plants get sun from 10 am till sunset, about 6 hours.

whilst i have your attention. i notice you do not advertise any more 2 gallon containers, will you still have them.

also, i forgot to mention. when i receive a plant from you, usually in a 6 inch pot. i give it a couple of days to get their act together and then repot in an 8 inch pot using worm casings as the potting medium. they seem to like it.

lou

Hi Louis,

All good practices - iron, worm castings, potting up.

We do have quite a few 2 gallon pots, many will go to the Open Houses but some will be offered online. Offhand I recall some Living Legends, Belle du Jour, High Voltage, Voodoo Magic, Stolen Kiss, Acadian Springs, Creole lady, Morning Mist, Purple Magic, and others I can't think of right now. None of the newest varieties since the 2 gallons are at least 2 years old.

Charlie

what does morming mist look like??????/Any pics

Morning Mist is a pretty flower, particularly when it first opens. Photo below.

very pretty.....I guess I can hopefully get one at the open house